ASUS has previewed its new series of motherboards based on Intel's upcoming Z97/H97 Express chipsets and compatible with the "Devil's Canyon" CPUs.

Expected for official release in May 11, Asus' new series includes a total of 16 models -- 6 H97 series, 5 c series, 2 "TUF" gaming series and 3 "ROG" series.

The motherboards all use the 1150 pin socket designation and support DDR3 memory.

The standard Z97 series features a redesigned laypout and a new UEFI interface. As you can see in the pictures posted online by the Japanese pc.watch.impress web site, Asus has choses to use a circular gold-colored heasink for the chipset.

The basic models of thi series is the Z97-PRO, Z97I-PLUS and the flagship Z97-DELUXE.

Model

Chipset

Factor

Z97-DELUXE(NFC & WLC)

Intel Z97

ATX

Z97-DELUXE

Intel Z97

ATX

Z97-PRO

Intel Z97

ATX

Z97-K

Intel Z97

ATX

Z97M-PLUS

Intel Z97

microATX

Z97I-PLUS

Intel Z97

Mini-ITX

H97-PRO

Intel H97

ATX

H97-PLUS

Intel H97

ATX

H97M-PLUS

Intel H97

microATX

H97M-E

Intel H97

microATX

H97I-PLUS

Intel H97

Mini-ITX

They are equipped with a M.2 slots offering 10Gbps of bandwidth, Asus's "Crystal Sound 2" audio cuircuits, noise supression designs by separating the layers of the signal lines of the left and right channels and Japanese capacitors.

As the Deluxe is high up the scale of the board list, we see two USB 3.0 headers near the 24-pin ATX connector as well as an 802.11ac WiFi module on the rear IO.

The updated UEFI interface features an "Advanced" and an "EZ" mode of settigs. The "EZ Tuning Wizard" offers users step-by-step guidance for easy RAID configuration, and the "Fan Xpert 3" visualizes the fans placed on the various zones of the motherboard and allows for speed control.

The TUF series includes the SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK1 and the GRYPHON Z97 models. Besides the familiar, "camouflage" color and the plastic covers on the heat sinks (Thermal Armor), they are equipped nine temperature sensors 12 and also revesrse the fans' spinning in orde to remove any dust on them.

Model

Chipset

Factor

SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK1

Intel Z97

ATX

GRYPHON Z97

Intel Z97

microATX

GIGABYTE and MSI and ASRock will also offer Z97-based motherboards soon.